Animatronic Morphoids!

I’ve been awarded a production grant from the Alberta Foundation of the Arts, to develop some of the Morphoids into ‘living’ creatures over the next few months. To do this, I am using Arduinos, electronic circuitry, servo motors, sensors, and developing the mechanics for the inside of the Morphoids to make them move and interact with their environment. As you can imagine, this is a little complicated, so I’ve been starting with a lot of reading, and a few experiments.

I’ve been playing with the Arduino, and servos, and using sensors to control them. It’s quite the learning curve (but I can handle it). The mechanical part is going to be a challenge too, especially since the Morphoids are soft. I ran into an unexpected roadblock when I was trying this stuff before, in that the stuffing provided enough resistance inside to interfere with the motor. I will need to be aware of that, and figure out ways to get around it. I’m up for the challenge.

This is a project I’ve wanted to do for some time, but haven’t been able to find the time or money for materials, so the grant is much appreciated, especially in that sense. The other nice thing about this project is that I see these skills being useful in future work- it’s a great time to focus on this and expand my skills.

You might remember this animatronic Morphoid from the opening of The New Alberta Contemporaries.

And this shows the internal circuitry.

I’ll be posting updates as I go, but I don’t know how interesting it will be until I’ve got something more concrete to show. The goal is 3-5 animatronic Morphoids by the end of July. Stay tuned.